Hmmm. This post recalled the sixth chapter of my unpublished dissertation,
which dealt with a remarkable brouhaha that developed in Virginia around the
issue of appropriate education in public schools regarding beverage alcohol.
The dispute emerged about five years after the repeal of national
prohibition in 1933. Virginia's legislature destroyed an authoritative
report on the matter in the capitol's furnaces because the report did not
condemn moderate drinking. (See here
<http://www.roizen.com/ron/dissch6.htm> or here
<http://www.roizen.com/ron/jellinek-pres.htm> for more.)
Thanks,
Ron
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tarter, Brent (LVA)
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 11:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Civil War and Textbooks
I have just received a copy of the current issue of Civil War History that
contains a very interesting article by Carol Sheriff, "Virginia's Embattled
Textbooks: Lessons (Learned and Not) from the Centennial Era,"
Civil War History 58 (March 2012): 37-74. A professor at the College of
William and Mary, Sheriff (with the aid of her daughter) brought to public
attention in the autumn of 2010 the fourth grade Virginia history book that
contained a great many factual and interpretive errors, leading ultimately
to the removal of the textbook from the state's list of approved texts.
Looking for reasons why that book was defective led Sheriff to the records
of the Virginia State Textbook Commission that oversaw the publication of
three standard Virginia textbooks during the 1950s, books that were
controversial in their time and were withdrawn during the 1970s. Sheriff's
article traces how the state's ham-fisted attempt to dictate the contents of
textbooks in the 1950s ultimately left the field wide open for publishers to
issue textbooks without proper vetting for accuracy or reliance on the best
available scholarship.
It is fascinating reading, which I highly recommend to everybody, not only
to people who have a particular interest in the Civil War period, because
the article is not about that, only, or even chiefly. It is about textbooks
and education.
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
<http://www.lva.virginia.gov> http://www.lva.virginia.gov
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